Ingalls, Ford schools display green thumbs

LYNN – It’s been a tough summer for a lot of local gardeners and growers fighting a drought that’s stunted corn and stifled tomatoes.But the weather hasn’t been much of a problem for the green thumbs at the Ingalls and Ford elementary schools. Both have large, thriving gardens where kids, teachers, volunteers and hired hands from local high schools and colleges grow everything from beets to bok choi. And both schools also run weekly farmers’ markets, where parents and neighbors can buy fresh-picked vegetables.This week at the Ingalls market, the eggplant was plump, the tomatoes looked juicy and the scent from bouquets of fresh basil wafted through the yard.”We really reap the benefits of what this farm brings to our community,” said Kimberlee Powers, principal at Ingalls.Ford Principal Claire Crane also appreciates what that school’s garden has brought to the neighborhood.”The community is really involved in the garden and that’s what a community school is,” said Crane.Ingalls runs its garden, a former playing field in the back of the school, with the help of the Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-based Farm Project, which has an education program tailored specifically to urban schools. Farm Project staff join kids in their classrooms in early spring to talk about garden basics.”Third-graders do a farming unit in science and two farmers come in and explain the types of soils, the plants and the growth process,” said teacher Jane Mackey, who adds that the hands-on gardening experience matches up with the state’s curriculum guidelines.Irene Cowdell, who, like Mackey teaches a third-grade class at Ingalls, said kids plant beans in the spring and return as fourth-graders for the harvest.”In June, when school closes, all you see is spouts,” said Cowdell. “But when they come back in September, it’s all flowers and vegetables.”Bob Burns, a Farm Project staff member who has been working at Ingalls for a couple of seasons, said the idea of farming can sometimes be a tough sell with urban kids.”A lot of kids worry their friends will make fun of them,” said Burns. “But once they start getting into it, they call themselves farmers.”Over at Ford, it was a neighborhood association that helped launch the school garden. Crane remembers David Gass, who heads up the Highland Neighborhood Association, came up with the idea. Crane thought it was great, but tried to explain there was no yard, no dirt, no place to grow anything.That didn’t stop Gass who, with the help of some Lynn Tech students, built a series of foot-deep containers and filled them with dirt and seeds. Now Ford is the site of the largest and most successful container farm around.And Ford students have risen to the occasion. Third-graders in Cindy Mitsiaris’ class say gardening is a lot of work, but the payback is sweet.As for Mitsiaris, there’s no doubt where she stands”The best salsa I ever ate was made from vegetables from the garden,” she said.EATING WELLThe gardens also help teachers drive home lesson on nutrition and healthy diets.”Our whole school is focused on nutrition, living well and making healthy choices,” said Mackey. “We promote healthy eating.”Cowdell said kids not only learn the benefits of eating organically grown produce, they start to understand the advantages of locally produced vegetables versus tomatoes that are grown in California and pumped up with additives so they can make the trip to supermarket shelves in Lynn.Marian Minnger, a cook in Ford’s cafeteria, thinks the garden has genuinely changed the way a lot of kids look at food.”The garden has given them a chance to learn about a lot of vegetables they haven’t tried before,” she said. It’s also given them a chance to add a few more accomplishments to Ford’s long list of plaques and achievements.Last year, Minnger and a few other Ford cafeteria staff members entered some of the garden’s vegetables in the school competition at Topsfield Fair. Ford now has nine 2009 prize ribbons hanging in the hallway, across from the pla